December 13, 2011
England

Banned wind turbine connected up; Bodmin wind turbine turned on despite no planning permission

BBC News, www.bbc.co.uk 13 December 2011

A £1.3m wind turbine has been connected to the electricity network in Cornwall despite planning permission being turned down.

Brothers, Graham and Ron Dingle, switched on their 250ft (76m) wind turbine at Callywith Farm, near Bodmin, to power their recycling business.

Cornwall Council rejected their planning application, in September.

“We are considering all our legal options to seek the earliest removal of the turbine,” it said.

The council refused the application because it said it would have had an “adverse impact” on the users of Glynn Valley Crematorium.

‘Not acceptable’

Graham Dingle said: “I just can’t believe it. They tell everyone they’ve got to go renewable and to be turned down was unbelievable.

“The biggest problem was we’d ordered the turbine last April. We couldn’t afford to leave it on the ground, we couldn’t afford to leave this shut down. It’s not acceptable.”

The Dingles have now made an application for retrospective planning permission, which the council confirmed it had received.

The turbine will rotate about 15 times a minute and produce 500 kilowatts in a fresh breeze.

As well as powering their business the brothers hope to sell the rest of the generated energy to the national grid.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/12/13/banned-wind-turbine-connected-up-bodmin-wind-turbine-turned-on-despite-no-planning-permission/